Restaurant experiment: Dovetail

Dovetail

103 West 77th Street between Amsterdam and Columbus Avenues

New York, NY 10024

212-362-3800

http://www.dovetailnyc.com/

When Stacy invited me to brunch at Dovetail with Jen and Courtney, I’ll admit that I wasn’t exactly chomping at the bit to go after perusing the menu online.  In fact, I debated about turning down the invite, up until the morning of the proposed meal.  But then I thought I should keep an open mind, and since Stacy’s been several times and highly recommends Dovetail, I’d figure I’d at least have a tale to tell (ha).

The decor is modernly traditional.  It would welcome both the old moneyed Upper West Side set and the younger freewheelers.  Bricks, metal.  A discussion about Jen’s Barcelona chair was prompted by the furniture and setting.  Professional and courteous service. 

There’s only one choice you have at weekend brunch: the $32 prix fixe.  The headings are copied directly from the brunch pdf on the website.

Sweet and Savory Breads

The squares were cheese breads, and I liked ‘em.  There were also moisty cloud-like banana muffins and cornbread (circular lumps).  I applaud the bread basket. 

Canapes for the Table: Yogurt Parfait, Spring Onion Veloute, Cucumber Tea Sandwich, Salmon Tartare, Duck Meatballs

It was like an amuse bouche overload!  In the top left corner, we had parfaits.  Jen remarked that these would be super simple to make at home, and she was spot on.  Just get some Greek yogurt, oats, honey, and sliced grapes (or other fruit), and you’re all set.  Even if I could whip this up in my kitchen, I liked it.  In the top right corner, we had white gazpacho.  This had a very strong cucumber taste.  There might have been beans in there, but they were overshadowed by the cuke.  Next up, spiced watermelon.  This was a miss in my book as I don’t like Indian spices with watermelon.  Just…no.  The cucumber tea sandwiches were as small as postage stamps and the flavor of lemon took priority.  The duck meatballs were meat on sticks.  Stacy and I concluded that the white gazpacho won the gold in this tournament.

Duck Lasagna (onions, parmesan)

The other brunch mains weren’t particularly calling out my name.  I did mull over the crab Benedict which Stacy ended up getting and was kind enough to offer me a sample, but the spicy hollandaise was a turn-off.  In my mind, I was picturing tomato sauce lasagna so colored me surprised when this was set before me.  The sauce was balsamic-based, in fact.  The more I ate, the more the duck lasagna grew on me.  Quack. 

Desserts: Linzer Cookie, Strawberries with Meyer Lemon Sabayon, Chocolate Cheesecake, Cinnamon Doughnut

 

I started on the right and ate my way left.  The strawberries with meyer lemon sabayon were a sheer delight.  Crumbles make any dessert better, wouldn’t you say?  The lemon sabayon was all right, but looking back at it now, I don’t remember it very well which means it wasn’t a particular standout.  No linzer cookie but oatmeal.  Eh.  Cinnamon donut, hey, it’s a donut.  The chocolate cheesecake square/pool/volcano (mine had toppled over, spilling chocolate onto the donut) was filled with oodles of sugar but was rich and choco-tastic.  So all in all, the outside desserts were my favorites.

My expectations met and exceeded, I bounded out happily but faded quickly in the oppressing heat.  But then I checked out the nearby Greenmarket and perked up again.  Mmm, tiny sweet sugar[y] plums.

Restaurant experiment: The Stanton Social

The Stanton Social

99 Stanton Street between Orchard Street and Ludlow Street

New York, NY 10002

212-995-0099

http://www.thestantonsocial.com/main.html

Stacy’s friends Jen and Courtney were in town, and Stacy decided that we should go to The Stanton Social after their Broadway show, as small plates let folks sample a bunch of different options, and we were at varying levels of hungryness.  And Stacy had been to The Stanton Social a couple of times before, so that it would not be an unknown.  Good enough.

Since we arrived before Jen and Courtney, Stacy and I went upstairs to the bar area to sip a libation in the meantime.  I dislike being carded, but what can you do.  The bar was stuffed and loud as a club.  I settled on the “Bea’s Gin-Lemon Mojito” which consisted of “Bombay Sapphire, shredded mint, fresh lemon, lemon syrup & lemon-lime soda” for $13.  Stacy liked this drink so much that she ordered one for herself later.  Lots of fresh mint really made the drink stand out.  Perfect on a boiling summer day/night.

We escaped to the calmer downstairs after a while.  Both Stacy and I poked fun at the all the girls.  There sure were a lot of women at The Stanton Social, especially big tables of girls celebrating birthdays or somesuch.  Is there a secret dress code?  If you have a short, skintight dress, the place to wear it is here!  And with your 10″ heels too!

The hostess was sweet and didn’t give us any issues about the other members of our party arriving later.  Eventually she seated us in a U-shaped booth, and we began perusing the menu.  The other folks showed up soon after.  We started off with a male waiter but he was replaced by the chipper Allison who was cool.

The plan was for everyone to pick our two plates for everyone to share.  Since Courtney was a veggie, we all selected at least one non-meat dish which was easy to do since a lot of the dishes sounded appealing.  Here’s what we ended up with.

Zucchini Tempura - tomato jam and asiago $7: this was fine and exactly what you’d expect: fried up squash.  Came out piping hot too.

French Onion Soup Dumplings $12: a bit too sweet for my tastes.  Tons of cheese was melted atop the dumplings.  And the homemade croutons were a nice touch.

Red Snapper Tacos – creamy avocado & spicy mango $10: I never was super into fish tacos.  These were tiny and therefore cute.  Spicy for sure.

Stone-ground Blue Corn Crabcake ‘Corn Dogs’ – $12 Since I’m not into crabcakes nor corn dogs, these weren’t really winners with me personally.

Grilled Cheese Slider - aged cheddar, house cured jalapeño bacon, fried green tomato & lemon aioli $7: my other pick.  Too bad this came out near the end since I was getting full, but it was very comforting and familiar.  And you can’t fail with cheese and bacon.  No sir.

Grilled Ovendried Tomato Pizzetta - fresh mozzarella and grana, roasted garlic & chile oil $13: Lots of tomato on a thin thin crust.  

Garganelli Pasta – baby artichokes, spinach, grilled cherry tomatoes, smoked goat cheese  $15: this ended up being a table favorite.  I was getting stuffed and wasn’t able to enjoy it as much.  Though $15 is a bit steep.

Grilled Corn - chipotle butter, lime & cotija $6: Both Stacy and I vehemently agreed that Cafe Habana (or my friend Wayne) does the grilled corn 1000x better than Stanton Social.  The flavors weren’t balanced right.  Too spicy.  Not cheesy enough.

I opted-out of dessert since I was feeling full with food.  The others picked out the following and were generous enough to offer me bites.

Chai Crème Brulee – spiced ‘misfortune’ cookies  $9: Allison told us that the pastry chefs have senses of humor.  They sure do, as evidenced by their snarky fortunes tucked inside the cookies.  Heh, misfortune cookies.  Strong chai taste, verging on bitter.

The Red Velvet ‘Twinkie’ - cream cheese – crème fraiche filling  $4 each: I love red velvet cake.  This was a win.

Mint chocolate pie – a special of the evening.  Allison described it as an Andes mint pie, and she was spot on.  Mmm.

It was bizarre to wrap up dinner past 1 in the morning.  But the staff was chill and weren’t trying to hustle us out.  I would say that you’re paying for the scene if you eat at The Stanton Social, hence the social in the name.  Oddly enough, most of the tapas were servings of three, and you had to request four.  Isn’t four a standard number?  Weird.  And the desserts outshine the dinner dishes.